Las Vegas investors: $750 million in public money for Raiders, or else

Posted by Darin Gantt on August 26, 2016, 6:23 AM EST

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Las Vegas is fairly new to the business of being a potential host for professional football, but the group that’s trying to bring the Raiders there is already employing a good old-fashioned NFL shakedown.

According to the Associated Press, the group headed by Sheldon Adelson told a local oversight committee last night that they needed no less than $750 million of public money for the project, and would walk away from their project if they don’t get it.

Of course, there are critics of the plan, as there are every place when NFL business is built on the back of public money.

“There’s been a lot of conversation on why are we giving money to billionaires,” said Steve Hill, chairman of the oversight committee and head of the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development. “The public is not making a contribution to a privately owned stadium.”

Goldstein said the total cost of the project was going to be $1.9 billion, and he said the list of proposed sites was down to two. They also showed off renderings of a proposed 65,000-seat domed stadium.

The Raiders haven’t been able to get their current hometown to come up with $500 million toward keeping them in Oakland, and have been working on Las Vegas in earnest, even applying to trademark “Las Vegas Raiders.”

Adelson and his company are also trying to rush the project through a September special legislative session, so they can secure the funding before the next NFL owners meeting in January.

So it looks like Son-of-Al needs a public handout from another city to get a new stadium. And I doubt Vegas will do it any more than Oakland would. And of course he’ll go crying to those gullible elements of the fanbase who buy into his ‘victim’ act.

If he had any business sense at all then he’d sell at least a part of the Raiders to an investor who can finance a new stadium. But Son-of-Al (who has never worked a day in his life) won’t go for that because he’s afraid of losing control of the toy that he inherited.

St. Louis has a stadium they could use but really ya gotta keep the Raiders in Oakland. These rich folk sure don’t mind gouging taxpayers and the future of the community for their high priced toys. When will it ever end? My local college team has been playing in the same stadium for a hundred years and these chumps need a new stadium every thirty years?

This is exactly what the NFL is turning into and the greed merchants are ruining the game. For those that may not know, Adelson (huge GOP donor) is worth almost $30B. Makes sense that his group needs pocket money from the public, eh? It’s the same thing the Irsay’s have been doing to Indy, but on a smaller scale. Every year the drug addled owner demands and gets millions in tax payer funds for “improvements” to the horse barn downtown, yet spends millions on guitars, drum sets, books, transcripts, hookers and blow. Meanwhile, the tax payers are still on the hook paying off the RCA Dome, which was torn down years ago. Our inner city schools are a falling apart and our food banks are running on empty. Pathetic and sickening at the same.

Am I missing something here with the Raiders’ interest in Vegas? The city has a population of 600,000. The only other NFL market with less than a million people is Green Bay, but the Packers have been an institution there for decades. In Vegas, the Raiders would be competing with a zillion other attractions.

Who the hell do they expect to go and watch them every week? College kids and bachelor partiers in town for the weekend? Is that supposed to be a stable fan-base???

Sheldon Adelson, the guy who doesn’t want any tax dollars going to social services for the poor and needy, wants a handout for stadium. I think he should stand out on the Vegas strip and panhandle for the 750 mil.

Why should they get free public millions of dollars from Las Vegas to build a stadium.LV has been without an NFL team forever and they will survive nicely without one in the future.if the Billionairs group wants 750 million dollars from the public then make it a loan with interest or let them move to LA or stay in San Diego and show them the people of LV wont be shaken down.

The NFL and the pharmaceutical industry have something in common. They both take Millions from the public to generate billions in profits and price their products outside the realm of the average working family.

If the public pays for the stadium, then the tickets should be free. I can’t stand this current system. Billionaire owners don’t put money into the stadium but reap ALL the rewards from it. That sounds like flat out theft to me.

As long as cities continue to cave, this will continue to happen. This stops when: 1. A team’s home city says “no way” , 2. The voters in the city being used as leverage say “no way”, and 3. The team has to come crawling back to their original home city.

Billionaire hotelier Sheldon Adelson holding the city of Las Vegas hostage on the behalf of the Billionaire Boys Club otherwise known as the NFL. Surprise surprise. So when Teachers, Firefighters, Hospital workers, and oh yeah Cops need a raise we can send them around to Shelly’s house with tin cups and Kick Me signs. Enough Corporate Welfare already. The NFL can pay for it’s on profit centers, keep your hands out of the people’s pockets ya lousy grifters.

If there is ever an easier place to get that much public money its Vegas. Just raise those stupid resort fees no one uses but pays for daily and make the margarita at margaritaville 10 cents more. I doubt the actually citizens of Nevada will pay for anything. Unless of course they are on the strip.

If Adelson’s mouthpiece Goldstein says the total cost is $1.9Bn & the Raiders’ contribution is $500M, Adelson’s is $150M & they want $750M from hotel taxes, where’s the other $500M? If as stated previously, the developer is responsible for cost overruns, why don’t Adelson & Sands Corp just state they’re in for $650M? They would be a lot more likely to get serious consideration from State of Nevada w/ $1.15Bn on the table than $650M.

Minnesota coughed up $500 million in public money for their new stadium.
Atlanta $200 million.
The Chargers are asking for $350 million.

So they want Las Vegas to come up with $750 million??? Are they crazy? They better design a cheaper stadium or dig into more of their own coffers. Adelson, Davis, and the NFL certainly can afford to put forth more than they are already proposing to do so.

Don’t complain about the thief’s we elect to Congress every year knowing they are doing the bidding of the mega rich and mega corporations and then get suckered in to fork over 3/4 of a billion dollars to help one of the most successful private sport league’s in the world. Never accept using tax payer funds to help built a football stadium which make billions of dollars for their owners. Big business should take care of their own financial costs or go screw themselves. If they want this money do they ever pay it back. NO! Tell them to stick it. It’s has got to the point now that our representatives in Washington, plus big business, mega corporations, have no respect for the American people and if we let them get away with this, we deserve what we get. Do it only, if they agree to pay back every penny with a large interest percent added in and see then what they say. Some taxpayers could care less about football, why should they spend their tax dollars on this sham of a league? I love this game I wouldn’t give those thief’s a penny. Don’t do it!!!

Hill makes a great point. Nevada isn’t being asked to give $750m to a Billionaire, They are being asked to pay for 39% of a stadium that they will own and UNLV will have joint use of. So it’s either pay 100% for a new stadium for UNLV or pay 39% of a stadium and get an NFL team and host a Super Bowl or 2.

gmen6820 says “If your tax money pay for the stadium, then you should have a level of exclusive access to it because YOUR AN OWNER. Getting gouged in taxes and then paying astronomical prices at the stadium is criminal.”

Nothing much more has to be said because gmen6820 has nailed it, as well as it can be nailed. Well done!

Whatever happened to the investors that were 100% confident in the Raiders relocation to Vegas??? They sure did know their odds. Makes you questioned how promising the investors in Vegas are. Besides, Vegas is all hype. The living in Vegas sucks. It’s hot, dry, no museums, no farmers market, and no cultures. You have to park with the tourists, as a resident there.

Yeah the money is not coming from residents, it’s coming from tourist. Not to mention only people who complain about this are people that already have a local team that stadium was built years ago.. Wait till your local team needs a new stadium!
NFL being in your city is good for local economy. It’s a proven fact. Most cities that don’t have an NFL team would be more than happy to pay an extra 50 cents on taxes to have an NFL TEAM! Atlanta is doing it and they don’t even know they are doing it. Cowboys Jerry Jones did it!
We here in Nevada don’t have 2 NFL teams like you do “G Men” guy and guess what if Giants were about to leave or you pay 50 cents I will bet you would pony up that 50 cents so fast

You obviously don’t live here. Because everything you said was incorrect. Is the weather “hot” sometimes? Of course but everything else you said is just plain stupid. Not to mention….
Should I even go on?
Nobody lives on Vegas Strip which you are referring but you are just so dumb and such a liar pretending to live here it’s not even worth it..

As he said this isn’t a private stadium, this will also be used by UNLV which will be a down payment to joining the PAC 12 later, as well as public events. This is not exclusively a Raiders stadium. Also, as a Nevada resident I’m not making a huge deal of this because it’s hotel taxes that go to this, not mine.

twtom11 says:
Aug 26, 2016 7:11 AM
Am I missing something here with the Raiders’ interest in Vegas? The city has a population of 600,000. ……

Who the hell do they expect to go and watch them every week? College kids and bachelor partiers in town for the weekend? Is that supposed to be a stable fan-
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City and county in vegas are intertwined.
combined for over 2M ppl.

They can play in Lake Mead when it dries up. If Vegas wants to tax the tourist for this deal I’m alright with it. No local tax. Do other countries do this to their citizenry? Who pays for the new soccer stadiums?

If Las Vegas puts up 750 mil, then they should get 750/1900 ownership of the stadium and 750/1900 rent from raiders ticket/seat sales and 750/1900 from concession sales, etc. otherwise, tell Sheldon to stick it.

The proposal is to up tax on room shares from TOURISTS. So no, locals WON’T be getting “taxed” for the stadium. But you guys go ahead and keep talking……

Get it done Mark.
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The tourists though could then spend a little less per visit at other businesses because of the tax and that does effect the local economy. The “public” money has to come from somewhere no matter how its sources are spread around.

This is a public negotiation….on purpose. This thing is going to go, one way or another….and just like Seattle, Atl, MN, etc costs will be born by out-of-towners… It may ‘seem’ to the ignorant that it is ‘tax payer’ money, but it is not.

It will be companies collecting a tax for the city et al, to pay back the underlying bond. It is how it works…… but then again, the same people who are ‘aghast’ that billionaire owners are getting something for free need to keep up.

You are probably the same people that complain on a new school levy, even though you don’t have kids or a gas tax because you don’t have a car…..smh.

Why don’t cities negotiate for shares of profits? If they invest in the stadium, they should be getting a cut of what is going on to make them better than whole after 10 years or so. Then it makes more sense to give public money, because it really is an investment then.

This may not be a popular point of view, but on these stadium deals, I think it is wise to take a pragmatic approach and decide if an investment by the public has a chance of at least in theory being paid back. In Green Bay, the benefits have clearly outweighed the public investment, especially given the fact that the Packers have gone well beyond the initial expansion and done so without going back to the public. In the case of Vegas, I think it’s real hard to justify nearly a billion dollars. With no corporate or individual income tax to offset the investment, it seems unlikely that there would be a payback.

The tourists though could then spend a little less per visit at other businesses because of the tax and that does effect the local economy. The “public” money has to come from somewhere no matter how its sources are spread around.

Hill makes a great point. Nevada isn’t being asked to give $750m to a Billionaire, They are being asked to pay for 39% of a stadium that they will own and UNLV will have joint use of. So it’s either pay 100% for a new stadium for UNLV or pay 39% of a stadium and get an NFL team and host a Super Bowl or 2.

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Yeah, Nevada or Las Vegas or whoever would “own” the stadium, but not get any of the benefits of “owning” the stadium. Erie County owns the Bills stadium, but who do you think gets the concession profits? The Bills. Who gets the naming rights profits? The Bills. Who gets the parking profits? The Bills.

The greater Las Vegas area has 2 million people. It gets 42 million visitors a year but not everybody stays in a hotel. It has about 149,000 hotel rooms with about 90% occupancy at an average price of $120 a night per room. A $1 room tax would generate about $50 million a year. Las Vegas is one of the few cities in the country that could easily fund a stadium with a small hotel room tax.

his is exactly what the NFL is turning into and the greed merchants are ruining the game. For those that may not know, Adelson (huge GOP donor) is worth almost $30B. Makes sense that his group needs pocket money from the public, eh? It’s the same thing the Irsay’s have been doing to Indy, but on a smaller scale. Every year the drug addled owner demands and gets millions in tax payer funds for “improvements” to the horse barn downtown, yet spends millions on guitars, drum sets, books, transcripts, hookers and blow. Meanwhile, the tax payers are still on the hook paying off the RCA Dome, which was torn down years ago. Our inner city schools are a falling apart and our food banks are running on empty. Pathetic and sickening at the same.
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This is why the good people of st. Louis told StanK and the Rams, don’t let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya! LA will see the sticker shock in about 5 years. Privately owned my rear end! At some point US cities will stop being held hostage by the NFL. They want 750 mil of public funds?! holy crap!

Nevada is ranked near dead last in the country in healthcare, schools and has the second highest unemployment in the country. If its so easy for the state to come up with $750 million maybe they should consider upgrading the states wretched healthcare and education systems. What a scam

Easy for fans with teams in their city to say Vegas should decline. But I am sure there are lots of people there who would love having their own team just as you do, and your team (most of them anyway) bilked your city at some point so it isn’t really fair to those Vegas fans to draw the line now.

Anyway it isn’t a simple issue but in this particular case I really hope the Raiders stay in Oakland. Let the Panthers or Cardinals move to Vegas, after they return to being cellar dwellers and their small markets don’t bother to support them any more.

If I were the city of Las VEgas, I’d tell this billonaires: you want 1/3 rd. of the cost footed by us..?? Fine…but we want 1/3rd. of all revenues: parking, concession stands and all concerts and other events taking place in the stadium…And if you have a problem with this, build it with your own money in the middle of the Mojave Desert….it will be cheaper for you…

This is why Adelson bought the local paper–so locals wouldn’t find out about these insane shenanigans after he prohibits the reporters from truly covering the story.

Vegas/Nevada should make a very public list of requirements for that $750M, something like share of parking and concession profits, a certain number (in the thousands) of free tickets each week to be distributed to low-income kids and families. Otherwise, yeah, tell the Raiders good luck in Oakland.

The public needs to start saying no to any of these professional sports stadium funding bills. If a guy has 30 billion he doesn’t need a cent from the public. It’s sickening they even ask. These stadiums last 20-30 years and break down or they need a new one. Put that money into something useful like schools and infrastructure.

Isn’t it funny when rich people try to play hardball, like they have the leverage. No, if you don’t get 750 million, you’ll cry and throw a hissy fit, and then you’ll just have to continue to collect hundreds of millions of dollars in profit every year somewhere else.

Sheldon Adelson, the guy backing Hillary the Neo-Con?

Yeah, that’s all you really need to know. Bush, Obama, and Hillary… all Neo-Cons. (and if you don’t know that, you’re a moron)

So if you want a new stadium, in a new place, where you’ll get those hundreds of millions of dollars in profit every year, plus then a little more, then take a little less.

Otherwise enjoy being in Oakland, playing 2nd fiddle to the Rams in L.A. if the Chargers don’t go, or try your luck with San Antonio (and we all know how much Texans like low taxes so good luck getting something passed there).

The tourists though could then spend a little less per visit at other businesses because of the tax and that does effect the local economy. The “public” money has to come from somewhere no matter how its sources are spread around.

Of course it will, once that $2 goes to the hotel tax, that’s $2 less in the local economy, times the population of the tourists. Money isn’t as infinite as you suggest. If the tax wasn’t significant, then how is it possibly helping to pay for a state of the art NFL stadium? LOL.

Easy for fans with teams in their city to say Vegas should decline. But I am sure there are lots of people there who would love having their own team just as you do, and your team (most of them anyway) bilked your city at some point so it isn’t really fair to those Vegas fans to draw the line now.

Anyway it isn’t a simple issue but in this particular case I really hope the Raiders stay in Oakland. Let the Panthers or Cardinals move to Vegas, after they return to being cellar dwellers and their small markets don’t bother to support them any more.

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You are clueless. The Cardinals aren’t moving anywhere. They have a good stadium, are well supported (10+ years of sellouts in a row including pre-season), and the Phoenix area is not a small market.

Who is a moron who thinks the Phoenix Metro area is a small market?

Why don’t you even look at Las Vegas and realize Phoenix dwarfs it.

Not to mention Phoenix has the water to keep growing.

Do you even know what the biggest cities in America are? You might want to look where Phoenix is.

According to Forbes magazine, Mark Davis’ net worth is $500M (less than half of Alex Spanos). Most of that I assume is tied up in his partial ownership of the Raiders, that are valued at $785M. To suggest that Davis could/should write a check for a $1.9B stadium is just stupid. The dude drives a minivan, uses a 2003 Nokia phone, dresses off the rack and hasn’t paid for a decent haircut in his life.

The Raiders have offered to pay $500M of new stadium costs. That payment would surely be financed by a loan backed by Davis’ stake in the franchise.

So this moralistic condemnation of greedy NFL owners who want the taxpayers to foot the bill so they don’t have to spend their own cash just doesn’t apply. The stadium revenue generated by the Raiders is the lowest in the league by far, and what NFL free agent would count playing in the coliseum as a positive in coming to Oakland? It is obvious to any fair-minded observer that this has to change if the Raiders are to remain competitive and financially viable in the long term.

As to whether $750M in public funds financed by hotel taxes is a reasonable price to pay for a PUBLICALLY OWNED MULTI-PURPOSE stadium, which would bring an NFL franchise to town, that is really not a judgment call. Using best estimates on tourism impact, consequent revenue impacts and other costs, it is not difficult to determine whether this will economically be a good deal for Las Vegas or not. No one on this message board has the information needed to make that determination, so all your violent protestations are really just hot air.

And as for those of you who are offended by the notion of your tax dollars being invested in a stadium (regardless of whether it is expected to be a net positive revenue generator for your community), I would point out that in 2015, our bloated federal bureaucracy took in $3.25 TRILLION in taxes (of which, I paid WAY more than my fair share) and spent $3.7 TRILLION – including $2.29 Trillion on mandatory spending / wealth redistribution programs and $220M in interest on the federal debt (more than half of which has been accumulated since our current idiot president took office). So frankly, I don’t give a rats behind what you want your tax money spent for.

Wow, what a cool power play by the Mighty Raiders. If Vegas doesn’t play ball, Raiders will go to San Antonio, oh wait, J. Jones will block them. Ok, they will go to LA? Oh wait, they have already been turned down. They will go to Mexico City? Yes, and they will be paid in burritos and like it! Gooooo Raiders!!!!!!

Those grand casinos on the strip cost around $2 billion to build. None of them were built with public money. The amount of revenue just one brings in vastly dwarfs any revenue a stadium brings in, especially if locals are mostly going to games and just driving from home. Casinos are open 24/7 and bring in revenue daily whereas a stadium will be sitting empty the vast majority of the year.

Why should a big stadium get ANY public money (visitor shakedown or local tax shakedown) when casinos and skyscrapers are built with private money? Screw the NFL.

It’s time for Sin City to grow a pair and tell those greedy bastardos worth 30B to stick it where the sun don’t shine. The net population of LV is incredibly small by NFL standards. I guess they’re depending on those Raider fans commuting from Ca. to watch their favorite teams and lose their shirts in the casinos and slot machines.

And will the new stadium in Las Vegas be the only one in the NFL with slot machines all over the place (including restrooms). The NFL line with its former stance on gambling is becoming extremely blurred.

Here’s the thing about the NFL that’s going to catch up to it someday.

If all of the stadiums disappeared and the production quality of the televised games remained the same… there’d be about 1% of the audience that gave a rip.

Football’s better on TV and the stadiums have nothing to do with it. NFL in person isn’t all that great from a game standpoint.

If this were a power company asking to raise rates in order to build a new generating facility the government would shoot it down in a minute. But a billionaire asking for what amounts to a grant from the taxpayers… hell yeah, let’s do it. Gotta have muh footbawl.

Vegas should tell them, “We’ll build our own stadium, you guys are welcome to invest in it.”
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Yeah, you know – that is kind of what is being proposed here. Las Vegas pays $750M, the Raiders pay $500M, and the investors pay the remaining $650M (if my math is right). The Raiders get someplace to play and a cut of the revenue from their games. Las Vegas gets the additional revenue from the tourists coming to see the Raiders play plus they split the proceeds from the Raiders games and the other events at the stadium including UNLV games, concerts, games of sports teams (e.g. soccer) which relocate there in the future, etc.

I question the return on a $2 billion stadium, especially in a town already flush with convention space and concert/ arena venues. Given the whims of NFL owners who want the latest and greatest, they’ll demand renovations to the stadium before its even paid off.

The stadium in Oakland was renovated in the mid 90s and Alameda County residents are STILL paying off the renovations. One major reason why St Louis objected to Kroenke was because they had an irrational clause that the stadium had to be within the top percentage of all other stadiums. That meant renovating the stadium at the taxpayer’s expense every few years.

There are a lot of lousy attitudes in regard to the stadium news. The people in southern Nevada should be excited about the prospect of getting an NFL team. The NHL is coming to Las Vegas, which shows that the region is experiencing growth.

I am excited about the progress on the Las Vegas stadium project. The entertainment capital of the world should have a modernized football stadium. AFC Championship games, Super Bowls, concerts, and Final Fours in Las Vegas will bring in mega revenue. It is called an investment. the $750 million from the increased hotel tax will be surpassed in a few short years. Mark Davis has committed $500 million to the new stadium. Steve Wynn and Sheldon Adelson are both on board. There is plenty of $$$ to get this done. hopefully 2016 in the Raiders last season in Oakland.

BTW, mayor Carolyn Goodman stated that she is VERY confident about Las Vegas getting the Raiders. Selling the naming rights to a corporation and PSL sales are two additional sources of financing for the stadium.

Don’t forget about UNLV and David Bechham’s scoccer team. The stadium would be used for plenty more than just NFL football. But people on this message board just don’t seem to grasp this.

Everybody needs to relax. The $750 million will be made back times 1000000. So many events will takes place at the new stadium. Raiders football, UNLV football, Super Bowls, Final Fours, MLS soccer, World Cup Soccer, concerts, political conventions, UFC fights, WWE wrestling cards, and more. It will be well worth the investment.

A modernized football stadium is exactly what Las Vegas needs. Foley’s new arena added so much to the city, The football stadium will be even greater.

According to Forbes magazine, Mark Davis’ net worth is $500M (less than half of Alex Spanos). Most of that I assume is tied up in his partial ownership of the Raiders, that are valued at $785M. To suggest that Davis could/should write a check for a $1.9B stadium is just stupid. The dude drives a minivan, uses a 2003 Nokia phone, dresses off the rack and hasn’t paid for a decent haircut in his life.
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Wow, Davis has a net worth of $500M but cant afford a modern cell phone, car or haircut? Perhaps he needs to sell the team to a buyer that has the money to operate an NFL franchise. Davis doesnt.